The Green Communities Division empowers the Commonwealth’s cities and towns to reduce their energy use and their carbon footprint on the journey towards healthier communities and stronger economies. The City of Beverly proudly joined the ranks on December 20, 2011 as one of the one-hundred-ten cities and towns from all regions of the state, populations from 393 to 617,594 residents, that are now designated as Commonwealth “Green Communities.” This was in part due to the construction of the new Beverly High School renovation/addition, which was completed in 2009, and was able to achieve MA-CHPS+ (Ma collaborative for high performance schools) certification for sustainability. The High School is powered by two solar PV arrays, with a combined system rating of 182 kW.

Beverly was awarded its first grant of $206,285.00 which was used in part to hire a consulting engineering firm based in North Andover, MA; B2Q Associates. They assisted with identifying the buildings which represent the greatest energy savings opportunities. The Main Library was identified immediately as the greatest opportunity. A benchmarking effort was undertaken to identify which of the remaining buildings should be pursued for energy savings and they were identified as Ayers Ryal Side and Centerville Elementary Schools.

B2Q hired Howse Corporation, a controls contractor providing installation and maintenance services for Johnson Controls Energy Management Systems (EMS) in the greater Boston area and throughout New England. B2Q worked with Howse and the City of Beverly to develop a scope of work at the three selected buildings in Beverly which were believed to offer the greatest potential for energy savings from control improvements associated with different portions of the buildings: HVAC support systems, the Air-Conditioning System, the Heating System and the Terminal Device Systems.

Financially, the projected annual cost savings on the three buildings is $42,845. Combined with Utility Incentives ($96,650.00) and other grants, the projects will pay for themselves in approximately 6.7 years. Additionally, the impressive projected annual Energy Savings (MMBtu) (million metric British thermal units) is 2,255, while the projected annual GHG (Green House Gas) Reduced (lbs CO2e) (carbon dioxide equlivent) is 715,431.

A second round of grant money was made available to the Massachusetts Green Communities in the Spring of 2013. The City applied for and was awarded a grant in the amount of $207,530.00. This grant was used by the City to make improvements to our North Beverly Elementary School by installing another EMS. The City again employed B2Q as our consultant for this project. B2Q identified three separate projects at the North Beverly Elementary School to improve the controls associated with different portions of the buildings HVAC support systems – the Air-Conditioning System, the Heating Plant System Upgrade, and the Unit Ventilator System Upgrade. These projects were completed in December 2013.

This project has a projected annual energy savings of approximately $16,000 based on 97,391 kWh of electricity savings and 4,813 therms of natural gas savings.

Also, a small amount of this grant was used to retrofit the Beverly Commons Park lights to Light-Emitting Diode (LED) fixtures. On an annual basis, the electric savings are estimated to be 3,942 kWh (or 13.4 MMBtu) and approximately $700. The City received $39,927.15 in Utility Rebates for these projects in 2013.

A third round of grant money was made available to the Massachusetts Green Communities in the Spring of 2014. The City applied for and was awarded a grant in the amount of $239,790.00. This grant was used by the City to make improvements to our McKeown Elementary School by installing another EMS. The City again employed B2Q as our consultant for this project. B2Q identified three separate projects at the McKeown Elementary School to improve the controls associated with different portions of the buildings HVAC support systems – the Air-Conditioning System, the Heating Plant System Upgrade, and the Unit Ventilator System Upgrade. These project were completed in February 2015.

This project has a projected annual energy savings of approximately $20,047.20 based on 69,210 kWh of electricity savings and 12,360 therms of natural gas savings. The City received $23,700.00 in Utility Rebates for these projects in 2014.

A fourth round of grant money was made available to the Massachusetts Green Communities in the Spring of 2015. The City applied for and was awarded a grant in the amount of $128,455.00. This grant was used by the City to make improvements to our Cove Elementary School and the Beverly High School. The City again employed B2Q as our consultant for this project. B2Q identified projects at the Cove Elementary School to upgrade controls and install Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) on the hot water pumps. This project focused on the main air-handling equipment which provides ventilation, exhaust and cooling for the school. The project is primarily an upgrade of the controls to a Direct-Digital Controls (DDC) system as manufactured by Johnson Controls. The project at the Beverly High School was recommissioning work including taking BAS control of 4 RTUs (replacing the manufacturer’s proprietary controllers), improving the operating sequences to reduce energy consumption and improve humidity levels, and implementing a monitoring- based commissioning system. These project were completed in February 2016.

This project has a projected annual energy savings of approximately $35,728.00 based on 244,724 kWh of electricity savings and 6,154 therms of natural gas savings. The City received $65,480.85 in Utility Rebates for these projects in 2015.

A fifth round of grant money was made available to the Massachusetts Green Communities in the Spring of 2016. The City applied for and was awarded a grant in the amount of $195,143.00. This grant was used by the City to make improvements to our Hannah Elementary School and Beverly High School. The City again employed B2Q as our consultant for this project. B2Q identified projects at the Hannah Elementary School to upgrade controls on the HVAC system including the installation of a new Johnson Controls DDC energy management system to control (4) RTUs and (4) Heating and Ventilating (H&V) Units. Heating Plant control upgrades included the installation of a new Johnson Controls DDC energy management system to control the boiler plant and hot water system, as well as the installation of new VFDs on the secondary hot water pumps. The scope of the project at the Beverly High School involved replacing the existing high-bay fluorescent fixtures with new LED fixtures in the Field House.These project were completed in February 2017.

This project has a projected annual energy savings of approximately $21,424.03 based on 141,723 kWh of electricity savings and 4,965 therms of natural gas savings. The City is scheduled to receive $55,100.00 in Utility Rebates for these projects in 2016.

A sixth round of grant money was made available to the Massachusetts Green Communities in the Spring of 2017. The City applied for and was awarded the maximum grant amount of $250,000.00. This grant along with funding from an additional grant source from DOER ($245,225.88) and National Grid incentives of $330,000 that helped fund the conversion of all the City’s streetlight to LEDs. This project converted 3,869 of the City’s existing streetlights to energy saving LED streetlights. The project was completed in May of 2019.

This project has a projected annual energy savings of approximately $261,953.12 based on 1,324,446 kWh of electricity savings.

Further information will be updated on our website as it becomes available. The City will be applying for the next round of grant money which should be made available in approximately March of 2020.

An example of the Main Library energy usage and costs from FY09 to FY 16 are located here.